


what happens during biology class

by oakleaf



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Accurate science, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 02:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3511727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oakleaf/pseuds/oakleaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>aka: a love letter to biology and engineering (and the two used together).</p><p><i>Biology is not Tadashi's best subject.</i><br/>Why an engineer might have so much medical knowledge. Pre-canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	what happens during biology class

Biology class is, for the most part, not as fascinating as mathematics or programming or physics. It’s an endless stream of memorise this process, learn the names of these things, understand this hierarchy.

Biology is not Tadashi’s best subject, because he’s better at processing numbers and concepts and putting ideas together. He’s not so good at rote learning; his strengths lie more in the area of applying what he’s learnt to new problems.

Biology is not Tadashi’s best subject, because what he learns isn’t always easily broken down into steps. There’s no easy way to memorise the [names of all the bumps on the femur](http://media.tumblr.com/dd07c776de22e1e7b339ca3c01111010/tumblr_inline_nkxwyrJ17e1ra5xlp.png) (greater and lesser trochanter, linea aspea, gluteal tuberosity...) or the [various features of the axis and atlas vertebrae](http://media.tumblr.com/c0ddc00d58bdd66233fe9f5fea071054/tumblr_inline_nkxx1j11jq1ra5xlp.png) and the [details of their articulation](http://media.tumblr.com/f68b94e47a3ff72f0863ff4ee88ddd6f/tumblr_inline_nkxx5eKt0g1ra5xlp.png).

Biology is not Tadashi’s best subject. It’s the cause of hours of taking notes and hours of labelling diagrams. It’s the cause of hours of reading research articles that sometimes make his skin tighten when there are too many details and his eyes strain when the text is too small. There are too many bits and pieces to cram into his mind and just not enough structure that it’s a pain to regurgitate on an exam.

But -

But biology class is where Tadashi’s brain kicks into gear. It’s the book with the margins filled with notes and ideas, filled with what ifs and experiments that could resolve the questions that they can’t answer yet. Biology is the field where technology fits in perfectly, and yet there are just not enough biologists that are trained in engineering who can write the programs they need.

Biochemistry is where Tadashi learns about neurotransmitters and apoptosis and he scribbles down the words ‘cancer’ and ‘electromag’ sideways besides his notes.

Physiology is where he scrawls down ‘targeted defib???’ beside notes on ventricular fibrillation.  

Anatomy is where he draws so many pictures of bones he doodles them in the margins of his other notebooks, and writes down the essentials of a robot to test the use of cartilage in the hip.

Neuroscience is where he learns the basics of psychology and scribbles about decoding and encoding and manages to jot down some ideas on stimulation beside diagrams detailing the formation of brain cells.

Biology is not Tadashi’s best subject. But it’s one of the most stimulating, not because the subject matter is the most interesting thing on the planet, but because he can see where engineering fits to solve the problems that pure biology is maybe not quite yet ready to solve on its own.

After all, he’s an engineer, through and through. Fixing problems is kind of his thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm an engineering and biology student. Can you tell? (Yes, this is a shameless self-insert. Yes, I am a little ashamed.)
> 
> All of the biology presented in this fic is accurate to the best of my knowledge. Tadashi's scribblings are based on ideas I've had while in various biology classes.
> 
> If you're interested, [here is a post on my tumblr](http://oakleaffic.tumblr.com/post/113154836582/what-happens-in-biology-class) with a couple of pictures taken from my anatomy lab book that are semi-related to this story (also linked to within the story).


End file.
